Pennsylvania's online liquor sales booming despite tricky website

Patience is said to be a virtue — and it’s a necessary one for those using Pennsylvania’s Fine Wine and Good Spirits website to get their fill of libations.

The state Liquor Control Board has randomized access to the site to control traffic and is filling an unspecified number of orders each day that its fulfillment centers can handle.

The site stopped accepting orders Sunday because of the demand, board spokesman Shawn Kelly said.

“FineWineAndGoodSpirits.com has reached fulfillment capacity and is currently not taking any more orders,” a message on the site told visitors from Sunday through mid-morning Monday. “Thank you for your patience and understanding.”

By about 11:30 a.m. Monday, the site was accepting orders, but on the randomized basis that the agency won’t detail further, according Kelly.

The state closed all wine and liquor sales March 17. It resumed online sales April 1. The site reported more than $1.4 million in sales through Saturday, including $174,235 Saturday.

Thank you for your patience during this unprecedented time. We resumed limited e-commerce sales at https://t.co/coNc9D9R3J on Wed., April 1, 2020. For details, see here: https://t.co/je4bjlSp2D.

— FineWine&GoodSpirits (@PAWineSpirits) April 1, 2020

“We accepted nearly 40% of our yearly online order total,” Kelly said.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2019, the site filled about 39,000 online orders for about $5 million in sales, Kelly said.

Customers placed 15,017 orders for 76,214 bottles of wine and liquor between April 1 and Saturday, according to Kelly.

For those who haven’t had any luck accessing the state site, other options are available: distillers and winemakers in Pennsylvania.

Outlets include Pennsylvania Libations, Lawrenceville Distilling, Liberty Pole Spirits, Maggie’s Farm Rum, Pennsylvania Pure Distilleries, Kingfly Spirits, Boyd & Blair, Wigle Whiskey and Bluecoat Gin.

People also can make the drive to places in West Virginia and Ohio or Maryland, where liquor sales are still allowed.

Officials in West Virginia’s Monongalia, Hancock and Brooke counties — all of which border Pennsylvania — have halted sales to those without a West Virginia driver’s license.

Hancock and Brooke counties are in the northern panhandle of West Virginia, while Monongalia County in northern West Virginia is home to West Virginia University.

Ohio has limited liquor sales in counties bordering Pennsylvania or split by the West Virginia panhandle to only Ohio residents. Buyers in those counties will need to provide proof of Ohio residency to purchase liquor.

Ohio counties instituting that order are: Ashtabula, Belmont, Columbiana, Jefferson, Mahoning and Trumbull.